N.Y. Multiple Residence Law § 255: Egress from apartments

§ 255. Egress from apartments. 1. A dwelling three or more stories in

height shall have at least two means of egress from every apartment or

suite. Such means shall be remote from each other. Except where it opens

into a stair as permitted in subdivision three, one means shall be to a

public hall connecting with an enclosed stair or fire-stair not more

than fifty feet distant from such means. The other required means of

egress shall open either directly upon a fire-escape or a public

vestibule or other public hall connecting with a stair or fire-stair.

2. Except as hereinafter provided for dwellings two stories or less in

height, such vestibule, hall or stair shall be separated from the public

hall or stair, on which the first means of egress opens, by a fireproof

wall, unpierced except by a fireproof door and assembly with the door

self-closing. In a dwelling two stories or less in height, the

separating wall may be fire-retarded.

3. In a dwelling three stories or less in height and occupied by four

families or less on each story, and in any section of a permanently

occupied dwelling which is two stories or less in height and occupied by

four families or less on each story, a means of egress from an apartment

may open directly into a stair without the intervention of a public

hall. Such means shall have a fireproof door and assembly with the door

self-closing and without a transom.